August 29, 2009

Every known picture of Thomas Pynchon

The seven above and below, gleaned from a variety of sources, appear to comprise all that exist outside of the dark world, where no doubt there are many more — perhaps even home movies, who knows? — of the elusivewriter, whose latest novel, "Inherent Vice," has just been published.

a second photo from that yearbook, where it appeared in the "Best Student" section and honored Pynchon for being the best male student of 1953.

Next

is one lifted from a high school yearbook group staff photo.

Then there's this one,

part of a staff photo for the Purple and Gold, Pynchon's high school newspaper.

Its caption reads, "The Purple and Gold has carried on the old tradition of service to the school. It has also made its own new innovations. The principal one being a column by Thomas Pynchon that has dealt with such learned subjects as the 'Life and Times of Hamster High,' a legend about a stupid knight, and, of course, the 'Boys.'"

This undated picture

comes from Microsoft's Encarta.

The 1957 shot below

is of the 20-year-old Pynchon at the Navy's Bainbridge, Maryland Training Center.

It was first seen in David Cowart's 1980 book, "Thomas Pynchon — The Art of Allusion."

Then there's a 41-year hiatus, until correspondent James Bone of London's Sunday Times decided to try to find him in New York City, where he'd managed to place Pynchon.

Bone succeeded, publishing the results of his quest in a June 7, 1998 article accompanied by the "paparazzi-style point-and-snap" below of Pynchon and his then seven-year-old son Jackson,

"the first published photograph of Thomas Pynchon for more than 40 years."